Canadian Credit Reporting Legislation

Your rights under Canadian Credit Reporting Legislation.

All of the Canadian provinces, except New Brunswick, have enacted consumer credit reporting legislation, called the "Reporting Acts," which regulates the means by which credit reporting agencies (CRAs) conduct their business and handle sensitive consumer credit information. The Reporting Acts give you specific rights, several of which are outlined below.

You can find out what is in your file. At your request, a CRA must make available to you the information in your file and list all companies that have requested it recently. Equifax charges a fee to deliver your credit report to you online, but not for the delivery of a consumer credit report via mail.

You can dispute inaccurate information with the CRA. If you notify a CRA that your file contains inaccurate information, the CRA will investigate your claim by presenting all relevant evidence that you submit to the credit grantor. The lender must investigate your evidence and report its findings to the CRA. The CRA will then advise you of the investigation results and forward you a copy of your report with any changes. If the CRA's investigation does not resolve the dispute, you may add a brief statement to your file. The CRA will include a summary of your statement in future reports. If an item is deleted or a dispute statement is filed, an updated copy of your file will be sent to any company that has recently received your file, indicating there has been a change.

Inaccurate information must be corrected or deleted. A CRA must remove or correct inaccurate or unverified information from its files. The correction to file will occur once an investigation is complete; the amount of time required to complete an investigation and correct information may vary from case to case. However, the CRA is not required to remove accurate information from your file unless it is outdated or cannot be verified.

Access to your file is limited. A CRA may provide information about you only for the specific reasons detailed in the Reporting Acts, usually for consideration in an application with a creditor, insurer, employer, landlord or other business.